Re: Proposal: Bind backspace and delete like DEL in view-mode

[Kim F. Storm]

Richard Stallman <address@hidden> writes:

>     In general, I think it would be nice if define-key would issue an
>     error message when making a meaningless binding (i.e. for a symbol
>     which cannot occur as an event).  Unfortunately, I don't know how to
>     make such a test i general - and I don't see why DEL or TAB should
>     have special treatment here...
> 
> You're asking for a kind of special treatment for them.  If we decide
> to give them special treatment, there's no sense rejecting this option
> just because it would be special treatment.

Ok.  At least the user will be informed that the key binding is invalid.

Anyway, it would still be nice if define-key would generate an error
if someone is trying to bind a meaningless key symbol.

> 
> I wrote the code to detect this as an error.  It was under 15 lines long.

It doesn't handle modifiers.  If I enter C-h k M-return, emacs tells
me about M-RET, and C-space and M-space is reported as C-SPC and
M-SPC. Maybe there are other like them?

BTW, there is a typo in the error message: "..., use; use ..."

-- 
Kim F. Storm <address@hidden> http://www.cua.dk